Now I think I understand why. God had something else in mind for me. A summer prayer group based on Alex Aronis' "Developing Intimacy with God: An Eight-week Prayer Guide Based on Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises" caught my eye on the church website. Same day, 8 weeks, fit my time slot like a glove.
So this morning I rekindled an old love of meditative, contemplative, listening, centering prayer. Call it what you will, it frees me from the confines of my own sin, judging, and having the right answers in a Bible study. We sat in silence letting every niggling thought float by in the current of an imaginary river overhead. After 8 minutes or so, the leader led us to listen for God's answer to four questions about our basic wants and needs. Somewhere between those single-word responses came this poem.
While I admire the gift of sparse and succinct communication, I am certain I've not written poetry since 3rd grade! One of my favorite non-autism-genre bloggers is Abraham Piper at 22 Words. Every single day, he poetically conveys content on a myriad of theological and literary points. Each post is 22 words which puts a cool parameter on his design.
Personally, I err on the side of amplification, rephrasing, and overuse of synonyms! How I love words. The only blogger I know with longer posts than mine is Beth Moore herself! Limiting myself to less than 100 words would take either a great deal of discipline or divine intervention.
Today, I had a smidge of both: the discipline to clear away extraneous thoughts and an experience with the one, true, and truly concise, God.
What does this have to do with autism? You decide...or better yet, ask God.
From Still to Know
still
crazy
years
whoa!
woods
silt sinking into bedrock
know
Do you have a summer study?
I beg you to click on "comments" below the scripture.
"Be still, and know, that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:9-11
" 'Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of abundant water. Ezekiel 19:9-11
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:24-26
photo credit: www.seentwo.com/.../
Andrea
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful photo and thought. I am a big fan of the Ignatian Exercises and am hoping to do them myself once school is over. The book club I belong to just finished reading Heroic Living, which is based on Ignatian spirituality.
I think that for wordy type writery type people, it IS hard to pare down and focus thought. I just heard an interview with the author of Stroke of Insight who said that she experienced spiritual stillness/peace/bliss/nirvana when she WAS able to still that word-based side of her brain - first because of the stroke and then later because she was able TO turn it off.
I am not familiar with Beth Moore, so off I go to check out her site.
Thanks Mo. another thing we have in common...i'll look for that title too. wonder if the stroke of insight is the same interview i posted on awhile back?
ReplyDeleteFunny you should ask about a summer study b/c I was going to e-mail you to ask about your impressions on the Psalms of Ascent study. My little small group of special needs mamas are thinking of doing Beth Moore. In the end, it seems to have come down to a matter of $$$ as my church has the DVDs for an older Beth Moore study called The Patriarchs. Have you done that one? Do you have any other suggestions?
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